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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XL No. 278 



and are excavated in the top and sides of the cone, forming rough, 

 dome-shaped cavities, with an opening for ingress in the rounded 

 or flat top of the dome. These cavities are densely grouped on the 

 summit of the cone, and more scattered lower down. Halfway 

 from the summit to the lowest level of occupation were found traces 

 of a continuous rampart wall. 



Large lumps of the porous substance composing the hill had been 

 removed to form the chambers, and piled up outside, forming rude 

 walls enclosing the openings. Some of the chambers are quite 

 small, and were probably used for storage, as the only means of 

 access to them is through the larger rooms. The floor-levels vary 

 considerably : many of the storage-rooms are several feet higher or 

 lower than the connecting large room. This difference in floor- 

 level is in some cases the result of an effort to conform to the topog- 

 raphy of the site. 



The entrances are usually much broken away, but were probably 

 rectangular. In several cases a rectangular niche or channel, form- 

 ing part of the entrance-opening, was seen, occurring sometimes in 

 the centre, sometimes at one end of the side of the same. These 

 channels may have served as chimneys, as there is considerable 

 evidence of smoke-blackening in the recesses, as well as on the roof 

 of the cavities. An abundance of fragments of metates was found, 

 of the massive type which occurs in the vicinity of Globe, and also 

 some complete ones. Upon the upper part of the cone a consider- 

 able number of potsherds were seen, all the fragments quite 

 small. 



Some cliff-dwellings in Walnut Cafion, about twelve miles south- 

 east of Flagstaff, Arizona, were examined. The ruins are quite 

 small, rudely and carelessly built, and suggest occupation by a small 

 community and for a short time. They are distributed over several 

 ledges of the cafion at varying heights from the stream-bed below. 

 At the time of the visit the bed of the stream was dry. Above, ad- 

 joining the cafion brink on the north, occur several clusters of 

 rooms which probably had some connection with the cliff-dwellings. 

 Two piles of stones — the remains of rude walls — were seen at a 

 distance of three or four miles from the cliff-dwellings. They 

 seem to be the remains of single rooms. Similar vestiges were 

 found at points north of the vicinity of the cave-lodges above de- 

 scribed. 



In the vicinity of Keams Cafion, Arizona, an extensive group of 

 ruins was examined, occurring along the north border of the 

 Jeditoh valley, on an escarpment overlooking that valley. There 

 are seven ruins in the group, so far as known, distributed over an 

 extent of twelve miles. The westernmost and largest ruin is known 

 as Awatobi, or under its Navajo name of ' Talla Hogan." It has 

 been often visited by parties of the Bureau of Ethnology and by 

 others, and has been identified as the Aguatobi of Espejo's narra- 

 tive (A.D. 1583). It was occupied only a short time after Espejo's 

 visit. The whole group of ruins is directly connected by tradition 

 with the present inhabited villages of Tusayan (Moki), having been 

 built and occupied by gentes whose descendants constitute a por- 

 tion of the present Shimimo Indians. Awatobi is an extensive ruin, 

 and others of the group are but little inferior in size, though in the 

 latter, as a rule, no standing wall remains. The direction and dis- 

 tribution of the walls can, however, be easily traced. All the ruins 

 of this group occur on the immediate edge of the escarpment, and 

 overlook wide areas of valley-bottom, including fine stretches of 

 cultivable land. 



The party afterwards camped for some time in the vicinity of 

 Oraibi, the westernmost and largest of the present villages of Tusa- 

 yan. The work here was a continuation of the work of a party 

 which visited Oraibi in 1882, when the village was surveyed. A 

 study was made of the constructional devices in use at Oraibi and 

 some of the other villages, and many pholographs of interesting 

 features were made. The methods in use here are more primitive 

 than in ony other pueblo. They show also less white or Mexican 

 influence, and consequently are valuable as throwing light on prim- 

 itive architecture. 



Two interesting ruins were discovered and surveyed. They were 

 both found upon the west side of the ' Oraibi Wash,' a large valley 

 running north and a little east from Oraibi, from which the ruins 

 are distant seven and fourteen miles respectively. They both occur 

 upon the summits of small buttes detached from, but close to, the 



edge of the mesa forming the west side of the valley, and are so 

 situated as to command an extensive view of the valley proper and 

 of one or more of its smaller branches. The buttes are quite simi- 

 lar in character. The summit, in both cases, is of small area, 

 formed of bare rock, almost flat, and breaking off almost continu- 

 ously around its edge into a ledge eight or ten feet high. The 

 ruins occupy the whole of the summit, and extend down over the 

 slopes, which fall away from the base of the ledge. The ruins 

 themselves are similar in character, and both are directly connected 

 traditionally with Oraibi. The Navajos also have legends concern- 

 ing them. 



In the northern ruin was found an interesting cave, or under- 

 ground apartment, occurring within the ruin. The entrance was 

 very small, and had been, until recently, carefully concealed. It is 

 said to have been broken open by Navajos in search of ancient 

 pottery. Inside were found some well-built stone walls with sup- 

 porting timbers, but the cave was too much filled up with dust and 

 debris to permit much exploration without excavation, for which 

 both time and means were lacking. .A visit was paid to the small 

 village of Moen-Kopi, which is inhabited during the farming season 

 only, and occupies the same relation to Oraibi that Ojo Caliente, 

 Nutria, and Pescado bear to Zuni, — a sort of outlying settlement or 

 farming pueblo. It is situated on the north side of the Moen-Kopi 

 Wash, which for some distance above and below this point pre- 

 sents an almost vertical wall. Here, however, the cafion wall 

 breaks down into a gentle slope, and a small valley puts out to the 

 north. It is at the junction of this valley with the main cafion 

 that the village is located, about halfway up the slope. In the 

 smaller valley are a number of fine springs, situated some distance 

 above the canon bottom. These springs probably determined the 

 location of the settlement. The whole of the valley was under 

 cultivation, being irrigated from these springs, as was also a con- 

 siderable portion of the bottom of the cafion proper, over- 

 looked by the village. Farther down were large fields of corn 

 and wheat. One of the most interesting things to be seen in this 

 vicinity is the cotton-fields. Cotton was grown by these Indians 

 prior to their discovery by the Spaniards, and occupies a very im- 

 portant place in their mythology. It is a sacred plant, and gar- 

 ments or articles of apparel made from it are used only in the sa- 

 cred ceremonials. At the present time Moen-Kopi is the only 

 place where cotton is grown, but tradition mentions several other 

 localities. Seeds of North Carolina cotton and Maryland water- 

 melons, sent out in 1885, were found to have deteriorated but 

 slightly, though they had passed through two plantings. The cot- 

 ton is not allowed to ripen on the stalk ; but the pods are broken 

 off while yet green, and laid in the sun, upon the roofs of the 

 houses, until they burst open. This village is but fifteen or twenty " 

 years old, but has been built on the site of an older settlement. 



Subsequently the party spent six weeks at the Chaco ruin. These 

 ruins have been frequently described, and ground plans of some of the 

 larger ones have been published. An accurate survey of the more im- 

 portant ruins was made, and the plans secured reveal many impor- 

 tant points. The drawings and descriptions of Simpson and Jackson, 

 made in 1849 and 1877, are of so general a nature as to be mis- 

 leading. No such symmetry, for example, as that portrayed in 

 their plans, is to be found : in this respect the Chaco ruins are not 

 superior to hundreds of others. The quality of the masonry has 

 also been much exaggerated, though doubtless unintentionally. A 

 close examination revealed great ignorance, on the part of the 

 builders, of some of the simplest principles of construction. An- 

 other feature of interest was the very plain evidence of successive 

 or different occupation. In Pueblo Bonito, the largest ruin of the 

 group, three distinct types of construction were found, lapping over 

 and extending into each other. Several ruins not previously known 

 were surveyed, and others were visited. Mr. Morgan attempted to 

 identify the Chaco ruins with the celebrated " Seven Cities of 

 Cibola; ' but the number is nearly seventy, instead of seven. Upon 

 the exposed or south side of the cafion bottom are a great number of 

 ruins which so far have been overlooked, though they are not in- 

 ferior in extent to the well-preserved specimens under the north 

 cliff ; they are, however, almost completely obliterated through the 

 action of the elements. There is no reason to suppose, however, 

 that the ruins on the south side of the cafion bottom are more 



